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hcwill80

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Hello, last night I got a 2ft ball python. I got her from an individual and was told that she had been feeding the snake one mouse a month. Now I know that snakes need to eat more than that so I started trying to find out just how much was healthy for a yearling. I have had snakes before but not one this young. Some of the information said yearlings were being fed 2 small rats a week, and others said two small rats every other week. I can't feed her the rats, I'm afraid those are still too big. So should I be giving her two mice at a feeding or what?? Any help would be appreciated.
 
Get a kitchen scale from somewhere like WalMart or Target that will tell you the weight in grams. Weigh your snake then offer a feeder 10% of her body weight weekly.

Another option is to eyeball it and offer a rat that's about as wide around as your snake is at its widest point once a week. Most likely it'll be a rat weanling or a small rat.
 
A ball that size should be able to eat a small rat with ease, I wouldn't recommend 2 weekly, but 1 weekly is good
 
Dbz4246 said:
A ball that size should be able to eat a small rat with ease, I wouldn't recommend 2 weekly, but 1 weekly is good
Click to expand...

I feel d her a mouse last night once she got settled and it almost seemed like she had trouble getting it eaten. I don't want to harm her.
 
hcwill80 said:
I fed her a mouse last night once she got settled and it almost seemed like she had trouble getting it eaten. I don't want to harm her.
Click to expand...

A small adult mouse or a rat crawler, like Melinda said, something that is about as big around as her widest point. Try to switch from mice to rats of same size when you can and once she's eating well, sometimes if they get stuck on mice it can take some time to get them to switch to rats. I'm glad she ate for you!

My biggest ball is around 2', she gets a weaned rat every 10-14 days currently. She's getting big enough for a small rat but I don't like to push them. I am definitely on the 'slow and steady' side of the debate.
 
hcwill80 said:
I feel d her a mouse last night once she got settled and it almost seemed like she had trouble getting it eaten. I don't want to harm her.
Click to expand...

I know this is a month old, but just wanted to say that they ALWAYS look like they're having trouble eating lol...it's just how they eat, their whole jaw and 'throat' area stretches considerably.

I agree with what everyone else has said; switch to rats asap, ONE rat a week (any more than that is considered power feeding, and I'm in the boat that is very much against it), and give her a rat about as big around as her body, a little smaller if you're concerned. Trust me, she can and will get it down.

Also, just as an explanation, the reason to switch to rats is that when the snake gets bigger you don't want to have to feed it 5-8 mice every week to maintain a healthy weight. 1 rat is much easier, and as April said if you leave them on mice for too long it can be hard to get them to switch over later.
 
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